1. Field of the Invention
This invention is used by athletes playing sports such as softball or baseball. In particular, the invention is useful to protect the legs and hip areas of those athletes, as they slide into a base on the basepath.
2. Description of Related Art
Athletic endeavors that require the participant to be physically active, such as in running or jumping or bending, and that can involve contact between the ground and parts of the legs or hips, such as baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse or football, are popular with all age groups. With such popularity comes the potential for bruises and scrapes whenever contact with the ground is made. Players know that they can take protective measures, that involve the player wearing padding or extra layers of clothing, and several U.S. Patents for such protective measures have been issued.
U.S. Pat. No. 981,024 to W. T. Stall, and entitled "Interior Detachable Pad For Garments" describes how football breeches can be configured to include internal strips provided with eyelets for fastening hip, thigh or knee pads thereto. The pads inserted at the legs may be a pair of smaller pads conveniently joined by sewing separate portions of padding material into woven covering material and the strips provided are positioned both along the waistband area and along the sides.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,170,163 to H. D. Mitchell and entitled "Football Uniform" shows a protective garment built to be worn by football players that integrates pants and shirt or jersey into a single, functional unit. This garment provides an elastic strap formation, or a pants supporter, that provides support for both the pants and hip pads only at the lateral sides of the wearer's body.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,407 to Heikki Mattila and entitled "Protective Garment" discloses a sports garment made with pockets that can be fitted with resilient shock-absorbing pads. These pads are fitted into the pockets formed in the basic garment and fastened to the garment in such a way that part of the layer protecting the person is formed solely by the pads. This invention also shows that protective pads can be positioned at any number of positions around the wearer's body.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,342 to Kjeal Eng, et al., and entitled "Protective Pad Or Garment For The Human Body Or Parts Thereof" shows that a garment can be made to have a protective pad that comprises two mesh layers interconnected by pile threads that will give protection from the blade of a power saw. When the teeth of the saw contact the pad, they will first tear up the outer layer at the point of impact and bend the pile threads underneath backwards. Although some of the pile threads are torn away or damaged, the operator will have time to escape therefrom before the teeth can penetrate through the inner layer.
This art shows means to protect body parts by providing thick or individually-placed padding at strategic spots on or in a garment when an especially violent force, such as the pounding from football contact or the ripping from a power saw accident, occurs. But in certain sports where, for instance, only a minimum amount of contact is expected, this style of garment is either too awkward or too heavy to be used. Until the instant invention, a lightweight, lightly-padded yet flexible, easily-washable, pant that can be worn by players running the basepath in a softball or baseball game has not been produced.